MARCY L’ETOILE, France & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics,
and Banyan Biomarkers, an innovative biomarkers company developing blood
tests capable of diagnosing traumatic brain injuries (TBI), announced
today that they have entered into a partnership. Under the terms of the
agreement, bioMérieux takes an equity participation of about $7 million
in Banyan Biomarkers and obtains the rights to commercialize Banyan’s
proprietary tests worldwide for use in in vitro diagnostics, with
preferred rights for its VIDAS® immunoassays range. In
addition, the two companies will continue to explore co-development
opportunities in the area of TBI and critical care.

According to the World Health Organization, there are an estimated 10
million people affected annually by TBI. The burden of mortality and
morbidity that this condition imposes on society makes TBI a pressing
public health, medical problem and weighs heavily on healthcare costs.
The US Center for Disease Control estimates there are over 2.5 million
emergency room visits in the U.S. as a result of TBI and an associated
economic burden of more than $75 billion a year on the healthcare system1.
There has been a significant increase in the awareness of TBI over the
past few years, but diagnoses are still performed using cognitive
assessments and CT scans, which are costly, time consuming, and have
limited sensitivity. Banyan’s biomarkers have the potential to
objectively diagnose TBI with a simple blood test and to help avoid
unnecessary patient exposure to dangerous ionizing radiation.

By combining Banyan’s innovative biomarkers with bioMérieux leading
position in IVD at the critical care and its global commercial
footprint, both companies aim at bringing to clinicians the first
FDA-approved blood-based automated test for TBI.

“We have been especially impressed by the quality of the team at
Banyan Biomarkers, the thoroughness of their work and the promising data,”
said Francois Lacoste, Corporate Vice President, Clinical Unit at
bioMérieux. “This partnership with Banyan Biomarkers illustrates our
commitment to bring pioneering high medical value diagnostic solutions
to the physicians and help them improve patient care and reduce
healthcare spending.”

“bioMérieux’s illustrious history, scientific excellence, strong
market presence and culture of growth and innovation are reasons we are
very optimistic about our ability to jointly transform the global
diagnosis of TBI with our biomarker assay on the VIDAS®
range of instruments,” stated Hank Nordhoff, Chairman and CEO of
Banyan Biomarkers.

ABOUT BANYAN BIOMARKERS

Banyan Biomarkers, Inc. is developing a blood test that could be used by
physicians and healthcare providers to rapidly and objectively detect
the presence of mild TBI, also known as concussions, and improve the
medical management of head injured patients. The Company’s test uses two
brain specific protein biomarkers (Banyan UCH-L1™ and Banyan GFAP™) that
rapidly appear in the blood after a brain injury. To learn more about
Banyan Biomarkers, visit www.banyanbio.com.

ABOUT BIOMÉRIEUX

Pioneering Diagnostics

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for over 50
years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 42
subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2016, revenues
reached €2,103 million, with 90% of sales outside of France.

bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments,
software) which determine the source of disease and contamination to
improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are
mainly used for diagnosing infectious diseases. They are also used for
detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic
products.